Remember Your Name
by entirelynew
Summary: Hiro and Tadashi take a detour on their way to SFIT. Somehow, they get separated and taken into the world of the spirits. There, Hiro must find work in a bathhouse order to save his older brother. Thankfully, he'll have help from a spirit. But what will he do when a spirit named Yokai wants to come in? Big Hero 6 meets Spirited Away.
1. Fading

**Author's Note: I had this idea bouncing around in my head for a while, and I finally decided to write it out! This is a story that combines Big Hero 6 with Spirited Away. Chihiro will be replaced with Hiro (their names were so similar that it almost seemed like a no brainer). Anyway, I don't know if anyone's done this crossover yet, but I hope you'll enjoy it!**

**I don't own Big Hero 6 or Spirited Away.**

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"You're going bot fighting again, aren't you?" Tadashi Hamada could not believe his ears.

"There's a fight across town," Hiro said with ease, completely ignoring the problem. "If I book, I can stil make it!"

That was it. Grabbing Hiro's hoodie with one hand and turning the boy's head with the other, Tadashi knelt in front of his brother, forcing him to look him in the eye. "When are you going to do something with that big brain of yours?"

"Like what? Go to college like you so people can teach me stuff I already know?"

Well, yeah. That would be nice.

"Unbelievable."

Hiro could do so much with his life. He was a child prodigy who could do complicated math at the age of three. Of course, being the genius that skipped several grades made Hiro a prime target for bullies; so Tadashi understood why Hiro might be a little apprehensive about school. It didn't help that his little brother was short for his age and had little patience for teachers that taught too slowly or too quickly. But San Fransokyo's Institute of Technology could be different. It was primarily self-led, so Hiro would be able to work independently without being slowed down. Of course, Hiro would still have to take the required introductory and lab safety courses, but if Tadashi could just convince Hiro to just try it, Hiro could revolutionize the world.

And Hiro would be happy. Not out illegally gambling on bot fighting for kicks, not constantly complaining about being bored. He needed direction.

Sighing, Tadashi wondered aloud, "What would mom and dad say?" Aunt Cass was and always had been a wonderful guardian, but Tadashi still felt responsible for Hiro. He remembered how often his dad had been there for him, and how protective and loving his mother had been. He had no idea how to be all of that for Hiro.

"I don't know, Tadashi, they died when I was three, remember?" Hiro said, looking like he was talking to the ground.

Tadashi let his hand slide down his face. Okay, maybe he wasn't good at confrontation. Maybe he wasn't good at being the parent. But maybe the tricky smart older sibling would do.

"Hey!" he tossed a helmet towards Hiro, who caught it easily. "I'll take you."

"Really?" Hiro had a healthy amount of distrust.

"Yup." He needed to add a little more to the lie. Tadashi learned a while ago that Hiro rarely doubted you as long as you had a reason. "I can't stop you from going, but I'm not going to let you go alone."

"Sweet!" Hiro said with energy. That was easy.

...

"Where are we going? Bot fight's that way!" Hiro yelled over the sound of the wind whipping past them, gesturing to the missed turn.

"I gotta pick up something!" Tadashi howled back.

Okay, that didn't sound suspicious at all. Hiro tried to get a glance at Tadashi's face. Sure enough, Tadashi was trying to hide a smile. Oh, whatever he was planning, Hiro was going to get him back for it.

Bright lights blurred around them as they sped forward. Once they were up a hill, Hiro could see SFIT (Tadashi's nerd school). The huge campus spread over several blocks. Lights shinned from the windows of labs, dorms, classrooms, and the signs announcing that you were entering the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.

Why was Tadashi grinning like that?

Hiro decided to wait a few minutes to see if they were going to change directions. Thankfully, Tadashi veered into the far right lane and turned his turn signal on, preparing to turn onto another street. Looking ahead, Hiro saw why. Car after car after car slowed to nearly a stop as a traffic guard conducted them around the road construction. Hiro was glad they avoided that. They would have been stuck in that forever.

They cruised down the road (Tadashi going annoyingly slow, flowing the 25 mph speed limit). After a while, the smooth road transitioned to uneven gravel, the moped bumping up and down in protest. The only good news was that they were apparently not going to SFIT.

"Whew, for a moment there, I though we were going to your nerd school."

"Oh, we are. I just want to avoid that traffic."

Drat.

"Why? Did you leave your microscope and future nobel peace prizes there?"

"Nah, one of the professors is an ex cop, I thought that maybe you'd listen to him if you weren't going to listen to me."

Tadashi turned his head and caught a quick glimpse of Hiro's mounting panic and let out a chuckle. "I'm kidding, knucklehead. I actually do need to pick up some stuff."

Hiro forced out a laugh. "I can't believe I made you think that I fell for that one that easily."

"Whatever, Hiro," Tadashi said, oozing sass. "You should have seen your face."

"Well, clearly something's up, you've been grinning this entire time!"

"Have not!" Tadashi's face suddenly looked serious.

"Whatever, Tadashi," Hiro said, imitating the sass almost perfectly.

"Okay, fine," Tadashi gave in, but he didn't sound like he was done yet. "I guess I've been waiting for a good excuse to take you to see my lab."

"Your nerd lab?" Hiro couldn't help but tease.

"Yeah," Tadashi's voice then changed from a jesting tone to a deep-in-thought one. "I've been working on something for a while, and I think you would love it."

"Is it a robotic butler?"

Tadashi laughed. "No. Well, maybe. But not really."

"Are girls okay with you being this noncommittal?"

"No, I mean," Tadashi paused, leaving Hiro to wonder if his big brother even heard his last question. "This is something new. I don't think many people have tried to make something like this, or at least have tried to make it this way."

Hiro couldn't see Tadashi's face at the moment, but he was sure he was smiling like an idiot. Hiro almost wanted to listen to Tadashi and join his cult of nerds just because of that smile. Hiro was proud of Megabot, but he had never been as proud as Tadashi was now. He wanted that. He still didn't want to go to nerd school, but he wanted that feeling.

Just then a big bump in the road made Hiro bounce in his seat. "Dude! Watch where you're going!"

They were on a rocky path now, going where no moped had ever gone before. The headlights were the only immediate source of light, other than the moon shinning overhead and a strange light in the distance that seemed to somehow be behind a curtain.

"Where the heck are you taking us?" Hiro hollered. In truth, he only just noticed how far from civilization they appeared.

"This road is supposed to let out not too far from school. They told us to take it yesterday."

Hiro looked around at all of the trees. The wind seemed to have picked up. He could swear that he heard whispers. "Well," damn, his voice just cracked. "Clearly you took the wrong turn. I'm sure your nerd professors wouldn't be stupid enough to recommend this road."

"Relax, Hiro, you're much safer in the middle of the woods than at a bot fight."

"Oh, what? No." His voice cracked again. "I just think it's stupid that you took a shortcut that takes more time than the original route."

A particularly large bump made Hiro grab onto Tadashi for dear life. Tadashi let out a superior older brother chuckle. "Hopefully this road will let out soon. It'll be a little adventure."

"Oh great! Glad you succeeded in distracting me from bot fighting!"

"Hey, if that had been my plan, then you could at least compliment me on my originality."

"Yeah right. Just admit that we're lost."

Suddenly a scream mixed in with the wind. Hiro felt Tadashi tense up. Tadashi braked hard and had to swerve to keep from skidding across the ground. Opening his eyes (wait, he closed them?), Hiro saw that they were only a few feet from hitting a long rock that stood maybe three feet tall in the middle of the road. The rest of the wood was pitch black, the rock being the only object that the headlights touched. But as Hiro's eyes readjusted, he could see the strange light again overhead, like the sky was hiding something behind a veil.

"Did you hear that, Hiro?" Tadashi asked frantically.

"Huh?" Hiro said, refocussing on the world around him. "Yeah, I thought I did."

Tadashi looked around, searching every corner of nothingness. "Hold on," he mumbled, fumbling for something in his bag. He pulled out a flashlight and flicked it on, stepping off the moped and moving the beam of light around the wood.

"Tadashi, wait," said Hiro.

"What?" Tadashi asked, looking a little confused.

Hiro stopped for a moment, feeling like a big baby. In truth, he was trying his best to hold it together, and almost panicked when his older brother began moving away. But he knew he was clearly being ridiculous. So he shock his head and tried to remain composed. "Let's not go too far from the road, okay?"

Tadashi nodded, thankfully not teasing him. "We won't unless we have to."

Not really feeling reassured, Hiro followed Tadashi off of the moped. The beam of light revealed nothing but forest and rocky road behind them, but as Tadashi rotated the light around, the light found a small wall of bricks. Moving the beam upwards, the wall turned out to be an entire archway. Hiro couldn't explain it, but he had a feeling that they shouldn't go in there.

Apparently Tadashi didn't feel the same way. He stepped forward, shinning the light ahead and holding his hat on his head against the wind. Hiro resisted the urge to yank him back.

Once they stepped out from under the archway, the wind picked up to almost tsunami porportions, tossing Tadashi's hat off his head and throwing the flashlight to the ground on the other side of the archway.

Hiro couldn't help himself, he wrapped both of his arms around one of his older brother's and locked it in a death grip. He was about to demand and whine until they left until he heard the scream again.

His eyes searched where the sound must have come from, and he gasped. In front of him was an elaborate ... festival? carnival? shopping center? Hiro didn't know. Lights shinned bright from an array of different buildings. Bright beings floated and trotted all around. Some of the beings had twelve legs, some of them had no legs. Some looked like blobs only wearing masks, some appeared to only be masks. Hiro felt like he had just interrupted a five year-old's dream.

_What the crap?_

He turned to Tadashi to see what he thought. Tadashi faced straight ahead, mouth dangling wide open. His eyes appeared to be double in size as he too took everything in. He turned his head to face Hiro. A look passed between them, but neither seemed to be able to say anything. That is, until the scream began yet again.

Hiro felt Tadashi's arm fly from his grip. His brother flew towards the largest of the buildings.

"Tadashi!" Hiro screamed, begging for his brother to come back.

Tadashi turned around, eyes wide in concern and panic. "Someone has to help. Stay right here."

With that, he turned around and sprinted to the building. Hiro reached and arm out to try to grab him.

It was then that Hiro noticed something that made the nightmare even worse. Hiro could see Tadashi, the buildings, the lights, and even the strange beings _through _his arm. He was translucent! In panic, he looked at Tadashi. He could see right through his big brother, like he was fading away. Like they were both fading away.

"TADASHI!"

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**Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Right now I'll be spending most of my time on my other story, _Here's to the Brave_, but let me know what you think! I hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Crazy as a Pig

**Author's Note: Chapter Two! Time to see how the Hamada boys like the spirit world! I do not own Spirited Away or Big Hero 6.**

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Tadashi sprinted towards where the scream must have come from, ignoring his brother's protests for the moment. He had no idea where he was, or what the hell was going on, but someone was in danger, and he couldn't ignore that.

He ran up a hill and then running down the other side, having to slow down to trudge through a river. He sprinted between the booths, trying to avoid the... whatever those things were.

"Hey! You there!"

Tadashi whipped his head around for a moment and froze in place. A purple creature with tiny eyes and a huge mouth was starring at him. It advanced towards Tadashi, sniffing the air as it went. Tadashi began sprinting again just as the creature opened its gigantic jaw to bellow, "HUMAN!"

He ran along a street towards what looked like a bathhouse. He had thought the screaming was coming from there, but now he was less certain. He didn't have much time to decide though, since he could hear several sets of feet stampeding behind him. Surrounding the bathhouse were even more creatures, but most of them were focussed on going in and weren't paying attention to him. Or so he thought.

"Oooo someone's running awfully fast, now aren't we?" said an old woman's voice.

Tadashi took one look at the source of the question and fled. He was clearly breaking into something that people weren't allowed to enter. He passed a few booths and hid between two that didn't have many people near them. He squatted down and tried to caught his breath and regain some control over his mind that was completely confused.

The scream. That's why he came here, he had to find whoever was hurt. He had to grab them and grab Hiro and run until this place was miles behind them.

Hiro.

Oh no.

Where was Hiro? Tadashi told Hiro to stay put, but what would happen when Hiro didn't listen to him (as usual)? What if one of the monsters tried to grab him? Tadashi pinched his arm, just to make sure that all of this was really happening.

Just as he made up his mind to get up, he heard the scream again coming from his left, only this time, it sounded much closer and less human.

Confused, Tadashi got up and looked to the left. He could see booth after booth of the strange beings eating and enjoying the festivities, but a little ways down the path, he saw a creature that seemed to just be a mask and a cloak. The creature was being carried away by a few humanoids, reminding Tadashi of a bunch of cops removing a drunk man from a party. Another scream echoed through the night, this one sounding more like an impression of a human. The creature laughed, sounding plastered.

Tadashi was so transfixed by the strange scene that he didn't notice someone approaching him until the old woman's voice said, "You done running yet, you little guinea pig?"

Tadashi jumped and barely resisted the urge to run again. He faced the most hideous woman that he had ever seen in his entire life. She had a hooked nose that covered most of her face, which was saying something, considering that her face was about as wide as a baby pool. She had a wart on her forehead and wrinkles that were probably deep enough to hide something in. Her hair was in a bun, making her hair look like a large gray circle under a smaller gray sphere. Although she was shorter than Tadashi, he cowered away from her as if she were a giant.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Tadashi meant to ask in a polite, nonthreatening way, but it came out sounding like a demand.

The old woman blinked, long eyelashes coming together and pulling apart. "You certainly are a demanding little human, aren't you? Well, you should know that humans aren't allowed here."

"Okay! I'll go! Just let me -"

"Oh, no. That's not how it works here, deary. You see, I can't have you wondering around here, and I'm not going to distract one of my employees or disturb any of my guests by getting someone to escort you out."

Tadashi swallowed. He wasn't seeing any options that would work in his favor. "I swear, I just want to leave. I don't know how I got here, and I just want to go home." He looked around. There were more creatures not too far away, and he was terrified that this old woman also had claws, or tentacles, or something that could easy grab him if he somehow got away. He needed to get back to Hiro. This whole journey had been for nothing.

"Well, it actually is a good thing that you came here. We are running low on food supplies." the woman said almost casually.

Tadashi could feel his heart pound and his hands sweat. He felt like he was going to throw up. In a mad panic, he tried to shove the freaky woman aside and felt his hand pass right through her. In a full-on adrenaline rush, he ignored how disturbing that was and sped away.

"Pesky thing!" he heard a snap.

Suddenly, he was running on all fours at a much slower pace. He tried to get up so he could go faster again, but he found that he couldn't. Frustrated tears built up in his eyes and he began to beg the woman to stop whatever she was doing to him.

Loud oinking filled the air every time Tadashi opened his mouth. In confusion, he spun around, only to see that where his arms and feet used to be were now tiny pink legs. What?

The old woman approached him and he tried to get away. There was something important he had to go to...something precious.

"Lock him away with the others and fatten him up," the woman said. Large arms hoisted him up and carried him away.

The pig squealed. There was something important, just on the other side of that hill.

...

Hiro anxiously moved back and forth, working up the courage to not run away screaming back home. Finally, his mind made itself up and he thundered up and down the hill after his brother. "Tadashi!"

_Splash_. What? Hiro looked around down and around. He was knee deep in a river. The water seemed to be a few feet higher on either side of him, as if something were keeping the water from crushing him. Trying to avoid freaking out even further, he powered on, noticing that the festival seemed to be getting farther and farther away from him as he tried to get closer.

It took every ounce of energy that he had, but he finally made it across. He leaned against a wall and tried to catch his breath. He was soaked and sweaty, and his legs ached from fighting the river. Looking backwards, the small river seemed like a lake. He couldn't even see the tunnel they went through. Instead, (he had to rub his eyes to make sure they were working) he saw what looked like brightly-lit ferries coming across the bumpy waters.

"What?" Hiro mumbled, at a loss for what to say. Where was he? Was this some kind of parallel world? Was this the after-life? That would explain why Hiro was apparently a ghost.

"Hey! You there!" a high voice said from his right.

"Argh!" Hiro replied, turning around and running away. Where the hell was Tadashi? He must have made it across the river/lake, he couldn't have drowned. Hiro stopped running when he came out of an alleyway and onto a street. He looked to the right. Large beings that looked like crayon sketches of what animals and people were supposed to look like milled about, stopping at the food booths or walking towards something that was on Hiro's left. Looking to the left, Hiro saw an old-looking bathhouse, towering above all of the other buildings. Still no Tadashi.

Hiro wanted to yell out again, but feared what would happen if one of the strange...things discovered where he was. He searched the ground and found a block of wood. That would have to do for a weapon. He reached down to pick it up, but his hand slipped right through it. _Oh, yeah_, Hiro thought. _Forgot about that_.

His eyes scanned the crowd again, hoping that his brother would just pop out. No such luck. _Okay_. Hiro took a deep breath and prepared to take a step forward.

"Hiro? What are you doing here?"

Hiro didn't scream, but what he did do wasn't much better. He jumped in the air and immediately thrust out an arm to smack whoever made the noise.

The creature he nearly hit blinked and slowly looked down at the arm that was passing through its stomach. It looked like a large, white blob with two black dots for eyes and a black line for a mouth.

Hiro took a breath and decided to go with the defensive strategy. "Stay away from me!" he narrowed his eyes, hoping that his voice didn't crack.

The creature didn't seem to feel even mildly threatened. "I am Mubō. I seek to heal the sick and injured." He seemed to regard Hiro curiously. "Humans are not allowed in the world of the spirits."

Hiro gulped. The voice didn't sound threatening, but Hiro was too freaked out to think optimistically. "Alright, well," he stepped back a couple of paces. "I'm just going to get my brother and go, okay?"

"Hiro, humans are not allowed here."

Hiro's hands were trembling. "H-how do you know my name?"

"I have known you since you were little."

_Okay, that's a little weird_. But Hiro was on the urge of a panic attack and needed help. He needed Tadashi. "Listen, have you seen another human today? I need to find my brother."

Mubō looked at him with what must have been sympathy (it was difficult to tell with two dots and a line for a face). "I have not seen another human."

Hiro's mind raced. "Do you have any idea...? I just... I don't know where to look."

Boy, Hiro felt like a big baby. Hot tears threatened to leak out of his eyes. God, he was frustrated. He just wanted this to be over!

"You will be alright. There there." The spirit reached out and patted Hiro awkwardly on the back.

Hiro took a deep breath, a little uncomfortable with the fact that the spirit was touching him. "Please, I need help. You said humans weren't allowed here. What happens if someone finds one?"

"If one is found, Yubaba deals with them."

Hiro felt blood leave his face. "And...what does she do to them?"

"They are converted into the food supply," the being said matter-of-factly.

Hiro jerked his head around, feeling more and more desperate. He had to get his idiot brother out of here NOW.

"Where do they keep the food?"

"Humans are turned into pigs and taken to the pigpen. It will be several weeks before your brother is considered fat enough to be eaten."

What?! Hiro had no idea how to turn a pig back into a human. Somewhere in his muddled brain, Hiro made a note to never let Tadashi live this one down. He would be making pig puns forever. But then he remembered that this was real, and that his brother would be eaten, if he hadn't already faded away.

Hiro looked down through his arms. He couldn't do anything other than move around and talk. He didn't even have any cool ghosty powers. How was he supposed to save Tadashi like this, especially without being caught himself?

"I don't know how to save him! Can you take me to him and turn him human again for me? I don't know what's happening to me!"

"You are in the world of the spirits. This is where spirits come when they're not in the material world. Humans aren't meant to be here."

Maybe that meant that they would be okay once they got back home? "But...What can I do to get Tadashi back?"

The spirit held out a hand, offering something the size of a walnut. "Eat this, it will stop you from fading."

Hiro didn't normally trust people he just met to give him food. Several scenarios popped into his head, most of which involved the food being poisonous. But since he saw no other option, he picked up the food and swallowed it after only a moment of chewing it.

Looking down at his body, he almost laughed in relief to see that he was no longer transparent. He poked his stomach... he could feel it! He reached over to the wall and put his palm against it, for the first time feeling grateful for the way the cool brick felt against his skin.

The spirit regarded him curiously. "You are less anxious."

"Yeah, well it's nice to be 'real' again." Then Hiro remembered something Mubō said earlier. "Wait, that wasn't a part of the 'converted food supply,' right? I didn't just eat something that used to be a human, right?"

"To my knowledge, no."

"That's reassuring." Hiro thought about the food properties. He had no idea how magic worked (he was still shocked that it even existed), but it seemed safe to assume that the food he had just ate had the ability to revert you back into your true form; thus making him a tangible human again. Maybe the same could work for Tadashi?

"Would feeding this to Tadashi make him human again?" Hiro asked, desperately wanting a yes.

"No, you would need a spell to make him human again."

_There goes that theory_. "How do I get the spell?"

"I will try to assist you in searching for a spell, but if you intend to stay here, you need to get a job."

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "A job? What, you spirits kill humans unless they agree to work for you?"

"If you have a job, no one, not even Yubaba can hurt you." Mubō replied, not entirely answering the question.

Hiro thought about it. He occasionally took shifts at the café his Aunt Cass owned; and he hated every minute of it. He was constantly bored and hyper at the same time, he hated interacting with the customers, and he just hated the whole 'working' part of it. Whatever job he got here would probably make that seem enjoyable. But if he wanted to save Tadashi, it didn't look like he had a choice.

Tadashi was going to owe him for the rest of his life.

"What kind of jobs do you guys give us petty humans?" Hiro's cocky attitude was returning.

"Go to the boiler room and ask Kamaji if he can help. He could get a job in the bathhouse."

Hiro peered around the corner at the large building. A long line of spirits were crowding into the door of the first floor. He guessed that given the size of the building, the overflow of customers, and the fact that they were willing to spare his life only if he took the job, that it would be the hard manual labor that people are normally against minors doing. This was going to suck.

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**Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed! It was interesting to write how Hiro would react to this situation, since he and Chihiro are so different. Mubō seems like Baymax, doesn't he? But why wouldn't Baymax know his own name? Hmmmm**

**The scream is based a little on a true story. My uncle has goats that sound like a person screaming, which freaked me out to no end when I went to visit him. But who was that spirit and why was he screaming?**


	3. Road to Employment

**Author's Note: First off, thank you to everyone who left such wonderful reviews! Second, about Baymax (or Mubō), he is in fact a spirit. I picture him looking pretty similar to the Baymax of the movie, just maybe a little more real and with some spirit-y stuff that you will get to see later. Anyway, here's Chapter Three! Time to meet some new characters!**

_Gees this building is falling apart_, Hiro thought as he carefully climbed down the steps on the back of the building. The wooden staircase was clearly aged to the point that Hiro bet that one of the steps would snap if he were the proper height and weight of most fourteen year-olds.

Hiro tried his best not to look down too much, even though he was not an anyway even a little horrified of falling to his death. From a couple brief glances, however, he could tell that there was a train station down there. Was the train station just a ploy to get more humans for the buffet, or did the train work as transport for the spirits? Of course, if spirits were real and could travel the world, then people should have seen them before now. However, if Einstein was correct, this could technically be the fourth dimension, which would explain why people normally didn't see the spirits. If that theory were correct, then they probably couldn't see the train either, or maybe they would see it, but not understand it to be a train. It would also explain why humans weren't 'supposed to be here,' since homo sapiens were beings of the third dimension.

Regardless of his theory, it didn't explain why they ate pigs that used to be humans instead of eating _normal freaking pigs_.

_Creak_. Hiro jumped a little, searching for a handhold on the wall. His heart leapt to his throat and he cursed the bitter, ugly (he was just guessing), old, grumpy, prejudiced witch that clearly had no concern for employee safety. This place needed a new supreme spa lady.

Once he reached the bottom, he walked up to the door of the boiler room and knocked. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to keep his feet from nervously dancing. _Huh, it's actually kind of chilly out here_. He checked around to see if he was being watched. So far, no spirits. Though there was a window not too far from him, so he shifted his body to keep out of any possible line of sight.

The door creaked open and Hiro felt heat coming out into the night air. Despite the new warmth, he crossed his arms and wrapped them tightly around himself. He prepared to take a step in, when he realized that no one had opened the door. _If they had the ability to just magic the door open, why did it take them so long?_ But after his eyes adjusted, he noticed that a hand was slowly leaving the door and retreating down a hall of whizzing machines.

Hiro froze for a moment, hoping that they didn't reuse human parts just to make a long arm that could open doors. He stepped inside, trying not to get burned by getting too close to the outdated equipment.

The hand and arm lead into room part of the boiler room, and Hiro finally saw who they were attached to. An old man was hunched over like a spider, spinning dials, pulling levers, and scratching his head all at once using multiple arms. After the initial shock, Hiro counted them. There were eight, if you counted the ones that acted as legs. Hiro supposed this man was Kamaji, but he was going to call him Spiderman.

"Um, excuse me, um, sir?"

The old man turned his head around. He had a mustache like the bottom of a push broom and black goggles that completely hid his eyes. He turned back around and continued with his work. "Yes, what do you want?"

"I was told that you could help humans get...ARGH!"

Before Hiro could finish his request, lumps of coal with little legs waddled into his vision. His brain was getting too much new, life-altering information at once. Unable to stop himself, he squatted down and picked one up, hearing what sounded like a tiny, adorable little scream as he did so. What were these things? What were they doing? Hiro ignored the one in his hand for a moment, and watched as the rest of them trekked across the floor and jumped straight into a burning fire. _What the heck?_

It was then that Hiro realized that it was in fact the black balls that were carrying them that that were animated. Breathing a sigh of relief that the witch here wasn't _that_ much of a sadist, Hiro watched as little balls of soot threw the coal into the fire. He examined the one he had in his hand. The little soot ball was trying to pull the coal out of Hiro's grasp. Hiro poked it, making the ball dissolve and soot rain down on the floor.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry!" Hiro apologized to the now dead soot ball, guilt twisting in his gut. He and Tadashi were dead for sure.

Miraculously, the black dust on the ground reformed into a ball with tiny little eyes and scurried away into the line of little mouse-sized holes lining the wall.

Hiro gaped for a moment, amazed that it was possible for some grumpy old woman to make immortal soot balls. Or was it impossible to die here? Wait, no. He and Tadashi could be eaten, and from the most rudimentary definition, a completely digested body could not be considered alive.

Still, the fact that they could make unconditionally sentient servants with magic made Hiro a little sad. It made robotics seem like unnecessary child's play.

"You messing with my workers?" Spiderman asked.

"No, no sir," Hiro answered. "Well, I mean, not on purpose. I'm sorry."

Spiderman grunted. "Then get going." He resumed working, as if there had been no interruption.

"No, wait! Listen, you have to give me a job."

"Excuse me?" the old man asked indignantly.

"Ah, I mean," Hiro tried again. "Could you please give me a job? I'd really love to work for you." Did that last line sound too fake?

"You'd love to work for me?" he asked, obviously not believing it. "Well, I've already got all the work I need, so you can go somewhere else."

"But," crap, what do you say to that? "I swear, I'm really smart! I'm a child prodigy!" Normally that line got all of the adults to adore him, but maybe that wasn't a thing here. "I'm basically an overly above average smart human!" That sentence sounded better in his head.

"With an overly talkative mouth," Kamaji commented, sounding like a disapproving old man.

Hiro's heart pounded. This wasn't supposed to happen! He didn't have any other options! "But Mubō told me that you could get me a job! Please!"

"Just because I helped make sure one human got a job doesn't mean I can help everyone! Especially if it's whiny."

Hiro felt furious. His eyes stung and his heart pounded. This eight-legged freak denied his request, insulted him, and referred to him as 'it.' He needed this job! They were going to kill Tadashi, and if Hiro failed, they were going to kill him too. It was a life or death situation and this idiot wouldn't even listen to him.

"Sir, please," Hiro said firmly but politely. "I need this job. I don't have anywhere else to go, and I'm going to be eaten if I don't work." He swallowed. This whole situation seemed surreal. "Please, I-I'll do anything. I won't even talk if you don't want me to."

Before Kamaji could answer, a small door slide open and a woman about his height climbed through and called out, "Dinner time!" She carried a basket in behind her and stood up. Then, noticing Hiro's helpless expression, her smile faded. "Umm, am I interrupting something? Wait." Her eyes doubled in size. "A human!" she yelled, pointing finger at Hiro.

_Crap_. Well, she didn't look like how Hiro had been picturing Yubaba, so she probably wasn't the witch, and therefore not as big of a threat. She was probably just one of the workers. But she looked like a normal human, with a small nose, fine eyebrows, green eyes, and brown hair pulled back with a tie near the ends. She wore what must be the uniform - a baggy pink top and short pink shorts with a blue apron, all made out of ancient-looking wool. Not an outfit that Hiro would appreciate wearing.

"What, and you're not a human?" Hiro shot back. It was probably not the smart thing to say.

"Excuse me?" she retorted, eyes narrowing.

"I...ah, I..."

"Pardon him, he's my grandson." Kamaji said.

"Wh -?" Hiro shut his mouth and made his face neutral.

"He is?" the woman asked, looking at Hiro like a bug under a microscope. Hiro nodded.

"He's not the brightest, but he wants to work here," Kamaji continued, ignoring Hiro's shocked face. "Will you take him to see Yubaba?"

"Ah, your grandson, I see," the woman nodded, clearly not buying it. "I'll take him. Come on little guy."

Hiro couldn't move for a moment. _Taking him to see Yubaba_? Kamaji wanted him to go directly_ to the witch that wanted to kill him_. He balled his fists and stood his ground.

"No! I'm not going to go like a pig to a slaughter house!" Hiro mentally high-fived for brilliant word play. "You can't send me to the witch!"

The woman giggled, and Hiro felt blood rush to his face. "She's not going to turn you into an animal; she's going to give you a job."

_Couldn't they at least treat him like he wasn't a five year-old?_ "But -"

"She's under a magical contract," said Kamaji. "She has to give a job to everyone who asks."

Well that would have been great to start out with. Hiro forced himself to calm down. There was no way anyone would take him seriously if he was constantly acting like a baby. "Okay, let's go."

The woman raised one eyebrow. "Not even a 'thank-you' to the man who is recommending you to the witch who will be forced to hire you?"

Now that Hiro thought about it, that sounded like a pretty deadly thing to do, that is, if Yubaba's contract didn't extend to employee safety. "Thank you, Kamaji. Sorry for, well..."

Kamaji nodded. "Just get goin'."

Hiro followed the woman to the door. She turned around and examined him. "You don't need your shoes or your socks."

Hiro looked down at his feet, not entirely wanting to walk through an old spa barefooted. But he wasn't going to test his luck, so he took them off. "Um, where do I put them?"

"Just let the soot sprites deal with them."

"Okay." Hiro set his shoes down and let the little soot balls take them away, not really liking leaving something that he owned in the hands of strangers. He left the room using the small sliding door.

"Come on, little guy," the woman called from the top of a thin wooden staircase.

"Little guy?"

She smiled evilly as he clambered up the steps behind her. "I'm helping you, I get to call you what I want."

"Well, my name's Hiro, so you could just call me that." She was kind of pretty, and he wanted her to at least take him seriously.

"You'll get a new name when you work here."

"Huh?"

"You won't be going by 'Hiro' here; it's just part of the deal."

_Well if she can't refuse me, then I'm going to put some edits in my application_. "Okay, well, what's your name?"

"Abigail."

"And your real name?"

She paused, seeming to consider the question. "I don't know. I guess I've been working here a long time."

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "No one just forgets a name! That's information stored in implicit and explicit memory! Even Alzheimer's patients remember it. Something's gone really wrong if you don't know it."

"Whatever, kid." They exited the stairwell and entered the bath area.

Steam surrounding the room and enveloped everything like a cloud. Spirits filed in and were taken to huge baths (well, for a lot of them, they were appropriately sized). Hiro and Abigail climbed another staircase, this time walking above the baths. From here, Hiro got a look at what he'd probably be doing. Workers scurried about in ugly old uniforms, one scrubbing a spirit's wing, another was carrying plates of food, and another was cleaning a tub. All Hiro could see was physical work, which meant exercise, which he considered disgusting. It didn't help that the insanitary room smelled like sweat and mold.

They reached a landing and walked to an elevator. A few spirits looked up as they passed, sniffing the air. Hiro walked closer to Abigail.

The elevator door opened and Hiro jumped inside, Abigail trying not to laugh as she followed. It was in moments like these that he wished he were a little less awkward and a little more like Tadashi. Even when Tadashi acted awkward, everyone thought he was cool. Hiro twisted his hands and looked around, not really sure how to behave right now, especially since all his body wanted to do was sleep.

"You nervous?" Abigail asked.

"I'm a bot fighter, takes more than this to scare me." In truth, his heart was pounding and his voice was shaking.

"Aw, baby." God, that was annoying, even though it now sounded less condescending and more teasing. "Don't worry so much. You'll get a job and a position and you'll be getting some sleep before you know it."

"Yeah." The elevator came to a stop. "Well, bye. See you around."

"Ditto." The gate of the elevator closed and Hiro stood alone.

Hiro breathed. "Alright. Scary witch that eats people. Let's do this." He lifted his head high and marched to a door with a creepy knocker shaped like a face. Hiro considered using it, but he had a feeling that it would eat his fingers if he tried. So instead he raised his fist and rapped on the wood.

"Well, look at the little human boy. You must be the other one," said the knocker. Even though Hiro half expected it to be alive, he jumped a little when he saw it talk. Registering what it just said, he yanked the door open and ran inside before it could turn him into a pig.

_The other one_?

Even in his sleep deprived, anxiety driven mind, he felt furious. No one hurts his brother. Nobody. This woman was going to pay.

He stomped down the grand hall, passing extravagant room after extravagant room. It was like someone vomited bright, shiny colors and jewels on the walls. The rooms seemed to never end, arranged with the logic of a funhouse. Hiro was just beginning to get lost when he heard an old woman's voice. "Oh, do hurry it up."

He felt a tug on his shirt as if someone had grabbed it. Next thing he knew, he was flying through the maze of rooms and dragged into an overly fancy office, where the woman who must be the witch was doing paperwork.

She sat like a bird of prey, with beady eyes and an obnoxiously large, beak-like nose. She was huge, not in an overweight way, but in a mutation kind of way. Her head alone probably weighed enough to topple the rest of her body over, not counting the mountain of hair on her head that was tied in a bun. When she looked up at Hiro, he could see that she had huge eyes with a clown amount of eye shadow and a huge wart at the top of her nose, right between her eyebrows. She regarded Hiro with a misleading smile. He was right about the old, ugly thing. "Look who decided to -"

But Hiro was smart. He wasn't going to let her do anything. "CAN I HAVE A JOB?" he yelled, perhaps a little too loudly.

She blinked, clearly annoyed. Good. "Rude little thing, aren't you. I apologize, but the answer is no."

No, that's not right. Kamaji might have not liked Hiro that much, but there was no way that he would lie about something like this, right? And Abigail was nice, she wouldn't, right? "But, you can't refuse me. You're under contract."

She looked at him with a neutral expression, however, her eyes were looking a little more murderous. "And who told you that?"

There was no way he was going to throw Kamaji or Abigail under the bus, especially to this dirty mistake of science. "That's not important. You have to give me a job!"

"Get out of my sight."

His hands were shaking, but he wasn't going anywhere. "I'm not leaving until you give me a job or you let me and my brother go home."

"We are fully employed right now, there is no reason that I –"

"That's why you make them into pigs!"

She blinked and then glared at him for his rudeness. "What did you say?"

"That's why you turn them into pigs." Hiro brain just made a connection, and when that happened, he no longer cared about keeping a verbal filter. "You're fully employed, but you can't turn any stray humans down, and you can't just let them stay here, since it's not allowed. So you turn them into pigs to get rid of them without making the other spirits think you're just a heartless murderer. That's genius!"

Yubaba looked at him oddly, probably not expecting the reasoning or the compliment. "I'd turn you humans to pigs regardless. You are nothing but greedy, selfish cry babies."

"Tadashi wasn't," Hiro accused, amazed, but still willing to push her out the window.

"He ran around like an idiot in here, not caring that he was disturbing guests who are in dire need of relaxation. We can't have riffraff like that going around here; this is the best bathhouse in the world!"

_It is?_ Hiro wondered. "I bet you lost some tips, huh?"

"An occurrence which won't happen again."

Hiro was about to give a clever retort when he remembered just why Tadashi ran in like an idiot. "Wait, someone was screaming."

"What?"

"The only reason Tadashi and I came in was because someone was screaming." More anger piled on top of his rage, making him fully awake. "You turned him into a pig because he was trying to help someone!"

"Please," Yubaba said, irritated. "You are currently the only human here. If someone was screaming, it was probably just an angry customer."

"Then why didn't someone here check it out?" He remembered Mubō, the spirit that wanted to heal. He almost seemed like he didn't belong here with people like Yubaba.

"Maybe someone did. It died down eventually."

"So you admit someone was screaming!"

"You'll be screaming in pain if you don't shut your mouth."

"No. I'm asking you for a job. The only way I'll change my mind is if you fix my brother and let us go."

She glared at him. "I'm not someone you want to be threatening, boy. You'd best stop talking now. Oh, wait." She reached out a hand and made a motion that looked like she was zipping his lips.

Suddenly, he couldn't open his mouth. No! He struggled, willing his lips to part, straining every muscle in his face. Open!

"There, that gets rid of that problem." Yubaba chuckled.

_Oh, no, it doesn't_. Hiro stormed across the room, right to her desk and grabbed a quill (of course the spirits couldn't write using pens, that would be too easy). He gripped it angrily, prepared to argue in writing if need be.

"I would be careful if I were you. Once you write something, it can be difficult to take back."

_Well, I'm a little too mad for your cryptic crap_.

"It's a pretty special quill."

Sighing internally (not that he had a choice), Hiro set the quill down.

"I hate to admit it, but you were right. I did make an oath - an oath that I regret to this day. So, since I don't have another choice, I'll hire you. You just need to use that special quill to sign your name on this paper. I'll give you one minute. You may not speak or argue. You either sign your name, or you can join your brother."

_What_? But he needed to argue! There was no way he could read the contract thoroughly, look for loopholes, and argue for benefits in that amount of time. He picked up the paper. It was written in an older form of Japanese that Hiro couldn't understand. Panicking, Hiro scanned the page, looking for at least some key words that he might know.

"Time's a tickin'."

Hiro swallowed. He hated uncertainty. Reasoning came easy to him, and knowledge was never far behind. Not knowing something, especially something that could ruin his life, killed him. He knew that there were probably some tricks in the contract, but Tadashi was counting on him. And, of course, he didn't want to be turned into bacon.

He gulped. _Time to take a jump_. Hand shaking and mind already regretting, Hiro signed his name, probably giving away his soul. He was never going to let Tadashi forget this; Tadashi would owe him forever.

"Good," Yubaba said, finally unzipping his lips. "Well, Hiro, what a nice name. I'm going to keep it if you don't mind."

"What? What does that even mean?"

"Shush!" she said impatiently. "From now on, you will be called Tomeo."

"Okay, I get it, weird company policy. Now, what exactly do I have to do?"

She looked him up and down. "Wait about fifteen more seconds."

"Huh?" There was a pause and then a voice behind him said, "You have called me?"

Hiro spun around, thankful to hear a familiar voice. "Mubō!"

"Ah, yes." Yubba said. "You weren't who I was expecting, but you will do. Take Tomeo to get a uniform and find him a room. We're about to close, so we won't make him start until tomorrow, but I think I've got the perfect job for our young friend."

That didn't sound good.

Mubō turned to him and Hiro nearly gasped. Mubō's once plain black eyes now had a red light shinning where pupils normally might be. "Follow me, Tomeo."

Hiro/Tomeo followed Mubō out the door, feeling like something was missing or stolen. He hated being under someone's control and he hated uncertainty; and in this world, Yubaba was the deity dictating his nightmares.

**Author's Note: Looks like this world doesn't work the way Hiro thought it would. Can he be polite long enough to get Tadashi back, or will he tick off Yubaba so much that she just offs them out of spite? Guess we'll have to find out!**

**Tomeo is an allusion to Hiro's father in the Big Hero 6 comics.**


End file.
